Description

Designed by the CES-award winning ASUS Xonar team, this latest member of the Xonar D series is equipped with design features found only on high-end audio equipment, fully catering to audiophiles seeking to enjoy high fidelity audio on their PCs - across all forms of entertainment including music, movies and games.

The Xonar DS boasts 107dB SNR, which is 12 times clearer than most onboard audio solutions. By eliminating 91% of background noise, the Xonar DS lets gamers hear every detail in the game audio, allowing them to locate enemies from a distance and thus giving them the edge in their games. This noise elimination also leads to a more enjoyable movie watching and music listening experience, with previously noise-obscured sounds coming to life with the Xonar DS' high fidelity audio presentation. The Xonar DS performs equally well in a wide variety of usage scenarios, delivering the best sounding audio in each situation.

VocalFX is an innovative voice processing technology that allows users to insert voices into realistic game landscapes (VoiceEX), or inject audio ‘backdrops' into online chats (ChatEX). It also allows them to change their voice pitch to disguise who they are (Magic Voice). These features dramatically increase the fun of voice communication during multiplayer gaming and online chats.

The Xonar DS offers a host of connectivity options and conveniences. It boasts an Intel HDA compatible jack-sensing front panel header which automatically switches signals from the back panel to the front whenever headphones are plugged into the front panel output. The Xonar DS' S/PDIF output combines with the less utilized rear surround analog output jack, and the optical digital output adaptor is bundled in package. This means that users no longer need to purchase extra digital I/O modules, unlike certain competitors' products. The Xonar DS has another onboard internal S/PDIF header, offering excellent digital audio to HDMI-ready graphics cards.

Normal sound cards can only support up to 96 kHz, which just cannot keep up with the 192 kHz/24-bit lossless audio content standard. The Xonar DS 192 kHz/24-bit playback support allows users to enjoy every music file converted at the highest quality without any sample rate downgrade.

Normally only present on high-end audio equipment, the design utilized by the Xonar DS includes swappable OPamp sockets that allow users to customize their sound by solderlessly adjusting the OPamp, creating the listening flavors with ease.

Cleaner, crisper sound with noise elimination

The Xonar DS boasts 107dB SNR, which is 12 times clearer than most onboard audio solutions. By eliminating 91% of background noise, the Xonar DS lets gamers hear every detail in the game audio, allowing them to locate enemies from a distance and thus giving them the edge in their games. This noise elimination also leads to a more enjoyable movie watching and music listening experience, with previously noise-obscured sounds coming to life with the Xonar DS' high fidelity audio presentation. The Xonar DS performs equally well in a wide variety of usage scenarios, delivering the best sounding audio in each situation.

VocalFX is an innovative voice processing technology that allows users to insert voices into realistic game landscapes (VoiceEX), or inject audio backdrops' into online chats (ChatEX). It also allows them to change their voice pitch to disguise who they are (Magic Voice). These features dramatically increase the fun of voice communication during multiplayer gaming and online chats.

Superior connectivity and conveniences

The Xonar DS offers a host of connectivity options and conveniences. It boasts an Intel HDA compatible jack-sensing front panel header which automatically switches signals from the back panel to the front whenever headphones are plugged into the front panel output. The Xonar DS' S/PDIF output combines with the less utilized rear surround analog output jack, and the optical digital output adaptor is bundled in package. This means that users no longer need to purchase extra digital I/O modules, unlike certain competitors' products. The Xonar DS has another onboard internal S/PDIF header, offering excellent digital audio to HDMI-ready graphics cards.

192 kHz/24-bit support for lossless Hi-Fi audio

Normal sound cards can only support up to 96 kHz, which just cannot keep up with the 192 kHz/24-bit lossless audio content standard. The Xonar DS 192 kHz/24-bit playback support allows users to enjoy every music file converted at the highest quality without any sample rate downgrade.

Swappable OPamp sockets for easily customizable sound

Normally only present on high-end audio equipment, the design utilized by the Xonar DS includes swappable OPamp sockets that allow users to customize their sound by solderlessly adjusting the OPamp, creating the listening flavors with ease.

More trouble than a sound card's worth

Reviewed by
Ian.
Review Posted
25/11/2012

15

This card has been well reviewed by users elsewhere, but for me it was a bit of a disaster. In fact, of the two serious problems I had with it the fact that it just plain didn't work was the less serious one; it failed to plug 'n' play, didn't show up in control panel and device manager could see only a sick unidentifiable audio controller. Maybe it needed the driver loading? Bad move - somehow the driver trashed Windows 7. It installed OK, but immediately afterwards hardly any applications or executables would work. They loaded into memory (at least Task Manager could still hiccup into life to show that) but they received zero cpu. Most control panel applications and almost all executables larger than Paint or Freecell were dead. It was so bad I could only reload Windows to get around it. From user forums, at least one other user has had the same problem and binned the card. Reluctantly, I've come to the same conclusion.

Overall

Ease of use

Value for money

The opinions expressed in this reviews section are those of our customers and not of dabs.com. Nothing contained herein amends dabs.com’s terms and conditions.

Find similar

Not quite found what you are looking for? You can find products which may be more suitable by simply checking the features that interest you and clicking the find button.